Hidden Plays
by AL0423
Summary: Challenges are hard to face, emotionally and feat is hard to accept especially if you never experienced it trying to blend in and stay hidden when you're famous isn't easy. Can't show your flaws, can't show them who you really are. "As long as your famous, you're an actor or actress." I don't own anything, Prince of Tennis belongs to Takeshi Konomi. Title is not final.
1. When I was a child

As Yoshida Katashi and Yoshida (Nee: Beauchêne) Katsumi held a small bundle in their arms. They were in a VIP room in Wakkanai City General Hospital, on the Hokkaidai island (North Island).

"Katashi!" Katsumi said when the baby opened her eyes. Katashi looked at the baby and gasped too.

"That's not normal." Katashi said.

The doctor came in and took a look at what the commotion was all about.

"Heterochromia Iridus. . . Here's two possible causes to this. Either it is an eye disease or she was just born that way due to abnormal genetics." The doctor said.

"I'll have to check her for any eye disease." The doctor said as Katsumi handed her newborn child over. When the doctor was gone Katsumi turned towards Katashi.

"The public should not know about her. We made that mistake with Hideaki and he never was given a proper childhood with friends and everything. We'll keep her hidden, I'll ask my sister to babysit her without causing any controversy." Katashi said. Katsumi nodded.

They took care of Satomi at home and showered her with love.

When they couldn't give her the love needed they bought her a kitten.

She named her pet 'Dizzy' since the cat love chasing around her favorite ball of yarn or her favorite laser making everyone else dizzy.

With all the love that Satomi showered 'Dizzy' with any other pet would be jealous. Dizzy always had nice soft beds to curl up in or a very nice scratch post or cat playground, but Dizzy prefer to curl up in Satomi's lap, the pet-owner bond was really strong in Kaminari's early years.

But there were many theories that Satomi would grow up like Hideaki, her older brother, all visuals and acting, not athletics.

Soon after a few years Satomi was forgotten by the public.

At age 3, the whole family moved to Toyko, metropolitan area.

By age 5 Katashi wanted his daughter to be a little more active. He thought tennis wouldn't be a good sport to start too early, the muscles and bones are still developing and a five year old's arm and wrist was probably not strong enough to swing a racquet.

Katashi was proven wrong. When Katashi was practicing tennis once he had to bring Satomi, who also brought Dizzy along. He told her to watch from a side, but being a five year old she was rebellious. She took Dizzy and wandered off onto a court and got a tennis ball. At first she was just rolling the ball to Dizzy, but soon she got bored.

When Katashi couldn't find her sitting where he told her to he freak out. Soon enough he found her on a court on the opposite side, using all her arm strength and throwing balls at cans from 5 yards away while Dizzy was curled up at her feet.

He was about to call out to her when she threw the first ball, hit the can's bulls eye and made the can go flying.

'A five year old shouldn't have that much strength!' Katashi thought continue watching his daughter. She did the same for the other cans.

"Tousan! Did you see me?" Satomi asked. Katashi realized Satomi knew he was there the whole time.

'Must have keen eyesight too...' Katashi took note of.

"Yes you were great, but don't wander off. You scared Tousan!" Katashi playful scolded with a smile.

For a year Katashi trained Satomi with basic skills, she was a fast learner.

By age 6 Satomi pleaded her father for some actual competition. Katashi advised her to join the club of her school. She told him that with her aunt's (Katashi's sister's) consent she already did so and defeated everyone her age and a little bit older than her with basic skills.

Katashi knew that tennis was going to shape Satomi's future, so he signed her up for a private school in the Kanto Region's prefecture, Kanagawa, in a city called Yokohama, and the school is called Mituzu Academy.

Satomi's competition got slightly harder, but still managed to gain the top position.

But Satomi's playing style for a while was the exact same playing style as her father's.

When watching the Wimbledon on TV one day she turned towards Katashi.

"What is a style of tennis?" Kaminari asked.

"Everyone has their own style of how they play tennis. My style is Speedy Net play. I like playing at the net and I'm able to jump and move to the ball quite fast. My older best friend/rival, you might have heard of him, Echizen Nanjiro, his playing style is not the same as mine. Right now you have the same style as mine and can play at the net without any problem, your speed is exceptional, but it's not your own style." Katashi said.

"Can you train me to discover it?" Satomi asked. Katashi nodded.

Satomi stopped going to her club and started doing individual training at her father's gym. Katsumi was proud of her daughter taking on her father's prodigy genetics in tennis.

By age 8 two tragedies had struct her. First was Dizzy.

Dizzy was diagnosed with Rabies as he got weaker and weaker. Satomi refused to let the veterinarian put down Dizzy. She was crying, and the only way to do so was to distract Satomi. Katashi distracted her by playing a match with her while Dizzy was put down. Satomi lost either way, but when she found out about Dizzy she was devastated. She realized that her father had purposely distracted her, and she never forgave him for that.

Dizzy was a life long companion. He had been there when both of her parents hadn't. He was her pillar of support and happiness when she was down. He was her cuddle buddy when her parents weren't there to tuck her in bed. Learning he was put down while her father distracted her tore her apart. Dizzy was the only one there when no on else was, they had a special bond.

Satomi was angry at her father for a few days, and refused to talk to him. She kept on demanding for Dizzy. She vowed that she would defeat him one day, it was the least she could do for Dizzy. But since the tragedy she never had the same bond with her father. They talked during her training, but she kept everything short and sweet.

This was ONLY THE BEGINNING of the strain on the father daughter relationship.

Second was her parents. They got into fights more often seeing as her father was never home since he was managing his tennis private club, it was a chain called the Yoshida Tennis Club. There were locations in major cities in the Kanto Region and other major cities in Japan.

Her mother believed her father was cheating on her since he never spent much time with the family. He tried to explain to her, but she would buy it. Soon the fights became about the most petty things. When they couldn't stand it anymore they divorced. They agreed no matter how much they had loved each other it wouldn't work. Katashi kept to himself a few days and just couldn't do anything. Katsumi stayed at her parents.

When they went to court to decide who got what it was agreed. Because Katashi paid for the house he would get the house. Katsumi wanted her children, but Katashi said he at least wanted Satomi. They agreed that Hideaki would go with Katsumi and Satomi with Katashi. They would be allowed to visit their their other parent though.

Satomi was conflicted during his time. She was too confused. She wanted her mother and father with her growing up. She didn't know what to do.

Because of her stored up anger towards her father and his decisions, she let it all out and started discovered her own style.

At first she called it 'Take Down Style'. She used last second tactics and her sharp eyes, along with extreme accuracy, and fast reflexes to play tennis. Her game of tennis is what puts tacticians on edge. They can never find out her full potential, because her game changes all the time, even against the same opponents her next move is always unpredictable. But it soon evolved from that.

That was the second part of her style of tennis was called the 'Speed Play Style'. She liked to call her most powerful move 'Invisible Shot', the ball moved so fast to the point you don't even see the streak of yellow and by the time it already bounced at least once the opponent finally realizes that it was on their side of the court. This move she was told not to use unless in VERY difficult circumstances, because it put too much strain on her arms, since speed and swing is key, meaning pulling a muscle would be quite common when using this.

Of course she toned her other abilities including curve shots, slices, top spins, forehand, and backhand. With her age and height volleys and overheads were difficult.

But it was far from what her actually playing style would be. All her skills would soon merge into one style of tennis 'Assasssin Style'.

By age 9 she started playing against junior high students (middle schoolers) and won. Instead of having matches all the time she thought training would improve her.

Her father was her coach, he had the most brutal training system ever, at least for a nine year old.

By age 10 he signed her up for singles matches against high school and college players. She kept her winning streak, and soon got a public image.

Her public image was a bit different though.

Whenever she played tennis she wore a white face mask to cover her mouth and nose, and her eyes were always covered by her tennis visor.

Her name was unknown, except her father almost said her name in public once. He said 'Tomi-' (her nickname) before he realized his mistake. With that accident she was given the nickname 'Tomi' for public use.

Her life was just a mess from there on.


	2. There was a friend of mine

Satomi walked into a tennis club as just herself. She introduced herself as 'Tomi'. She was with her aunt.

She was wearing a nice little outfit her auntie picked out. Along with an eyepatch to cover up with silver eye. Due to her heterochromia iridus she was born with a blue eye and a silver eye. She always kept her silver one covered.

They told the front desk that 'Tomi' wanted to find a good place to practice tennis. To be honest Satomi wanted to see if there was any good competition. She sat on the side as she watched a session go on. Suddenly a girl was taken out of another sessions and put into the session Satomi was watching. The girl must have been Satomi's age. As the session proceeded with the added member a few older kids were annoyed. They bullied the young girl during break and Satomi was about to step in, but the girl got up from being pushed down and grabbed her racquet. She challenged the older girl to a match. As they played the young girl confidently won all the points and matches. When the practice was over Satomi approached the girl with her aunt.

"Hello, I'm Tomi. I was watching you guys. I just wanted to tell you that you were really good down there." Satomi said. The young girl smiled as she held her mom's hand.

"Thanks! I'm Noriko Akimoto. This is my mom Hikari Akimoto!" The girl said.

"Do you play tennis too?"  
Noriko asked. Satomi nodded.

"Do you want to meet up here on Saturday and we'll play each other?" Noriko asked. Satomi looked up at her aunt and her aunt just nodded.

"Sure!" Satomi said.

"Okay I'll see you on Saturday at 9:00 in the morning!" Noriko said leaving. Satomi headed back home too.

This was the first important encounter.

On Saturday the two girls met up. This time Katashi was the one watching Satomi. Noriko's mother was there too. The girls were playing each other.

"I'm glad Noriko finally found a friend her age." Her mother said.

"Same..." Katashi mumbled.

"Noriko's never lost a game." Her mother bragged.

"Neither has Satomi." Katashi said.

"Her name is Satomi? She introduced herself as Tomi?" Her mother asked. Katashi freaked out for a moment.

"Her name is Satomi, but she likes being called Tomi by everyone." Katashi said.

"You look familiar." Noriko's mother said. Katashi was very nervous now.

"Look! This is match point for Tomi!" Katashi said. Noriko's mother's head snapped to the court. The Satomi was serving and with a jump and snap of her wrist she served the ball, but Noriko returned it, and they kept playing the point.

Satomi found an opening and rushed to the front and did an overhead slamming the ball fast to the point Noriko did not see it coming. Noriko couldn't react fast enough. Satomi won the match.

"You were a good opponent, best I played yet, but you still don't have your own style of tennis." Satomi said to Noriko.

"Style of tennis? What is that?" Noriko asked.

"Everyone has their own style. When I was playing you, you must have noticed how inconsistent I was when moving around receiving and returning the balls. My style right now is 'Speed Play Tenni' I work on playing with speed." Satomi mumbled to Noriko.

"Do you think I will find my style of tennis?" Noriko asked. Satomi nodded. Noriko's mother was looking at Katashi wondering why he had to hide his face. Then she saw a few features.

"Oh my god! Your Yoshida Katashi!" She screamed. Fortunately the courts were indoors and the glass separating the courts from the lobby was sound-proof, and no one else were on the courts.

"Keep your voice down!" Katashi whisper-yelled. Noriko's mother apologized immediately.

"Can you also train my daughter?" Noriko's mother asked.

"I only do it for Tomi because her name is Satomi Yoshida, making her my child." Katashi glared at her. Noriko's mother's eyes widened at Tomi, who was wiping her forehead with a towel, but there was no sweat.

"Noriko come over here." Noriko's mother said. Noriko came over to them immediately.

"You know tennis professionals right?" Noriko's mother asked. Noriko nodded.

"This is one of Japan's best players, Yoshida Katashi-san, and you just played his daughter, Yoshida Satomi-san, just don't tell anyone I told you this. Say hi." Noriko's mother said.

"Hello Yoshida-san." Noriko said with a bow.

Satomi went up to them.

"Come on...I want to practice something I just discovered..." Satomi said to her father. He nodded and stood up.

"Wait, can Noriko possibly train with you guys? I'll pay for her training sessions if you want the money." Noriko's mother said. Katashi looked at Satomi who, for a nine-year old, who had a blank face before she spoke up no more than a soft mumble.

"How about this? Tousan's been wanting to sign me up for some doubles practice matches, but just hasn't found the right partner for me. The next matches are next week. In this week Noriko will train with us, no payment needed. If she proves to be a good partner in the matches, no matter win or lose, she can continue training with us, still no payment, since next year once I'm ten I'll be playing on a national scale, if possible that is, but if we don't work out well together, she cannot train with us." Satomi said. Noriko's eyes widened, but they were glittering.

"Noriko? What do you think? In the end it's your choice." Noriko's mother said.

"I'd love to take you up on that offer!" Noriko said with a bring smile.

"First practice will start tomorrow at 8:00 in the morning until 3:00 in the afternoon, food will be provided, just bring your tennis racquet and whatever you need. Here's the address. Don't give this to anyone." Katashi said handing them a piece of paper.

The next morning Satomi was out of bed bright and early, as soon as she finished breakfast she headed to an equipment room. Half of the room was dedicated to acting and singing while the other half of the room was dedicated to tennis. It was actually just a shed in their backyard, but being a daughter of a worldwide known tennis player and business man, you tend to have a lot backyard space.

There was a tennis court in their backyard along with a shed for the tennis equipment. As soon as she tied her shoes Satomi got the tennis ball machine out (it looks like a garbage can without the lid) and had it feed her continuous balls as she just practiced basic forehand training. She then picked up all the balls and headed back in the house to wait for her father, it was a normal Sunday when it came to practicing tennis. 

Soon enough a bell rang which meant someone was outside of their gate.

"Who is it?" Satomi asked through the microphone thingy.

"It's Akimoto Hikari and Noriko." A woman's voice said through the speaker, Satomi checked the footage just incase, but her nine-year old legs barely could see. She then went to greet them.

She had them settle in for a second.

"Tousan needs to finish up setting up for next week's doubles matches. He is the owner of the Yoshida Tennis Club chain. But he's in charge of only the one here in the Tokyo and the one in Yokohama." Kaminari said.

"Where is your mother, Tomi?" Hikari, Noriko's mother, asked.

"Kaasan? She doesn't live with us. My parents are divorced, and my father got custody of me." Satomi said. Noriko felt pity for the young girl. She grow up without having her mother supporting her every step along the way, no home cooked breakfast, nobody mom to say goodbye and stay safe every time she left the house, and it was probably different for her growing up with only one parent always there.

"You guys are here already. Sorry to keep you waiting. Let's go." Katashi said heading into the backyard. All of them followed, once they passed the pool there was a warehouse like area. There was a glass rooftop.

"Why have an indoors court if you aren't going to block the sun?" Hikari asked looking up.

"It is important that a tennis player gets used to sun, but there isn't any wind, and actual air conditioning so no one should pass out." Katashi said. He got out a basket of tennis balls.

"First run six laps around the court, no cutting the edges, then dynamic stretches." Katashi said. They nodded and did as they were told.

Practice kept on going like that for the rest of the day. They worked on double formation and rules since both usually played singles. The two of them got into arguments quite often. 

This continued for the rest of the week. Noriko kept her mouth shut up being trained by a famous person and training with his daughter, while she was at school. At Mituzu Academy Satomi wasn't that popular anyways, so she didn't have to worry about talking since she barely talked at all. They would do their homework together and help each other out right after school before they started tennis practice and then Noriko had to go home.

Soon the matches were slowly approaching.


End file.
